MS: Police Say Voters Not Pulled From Line

By David A. Fahrenthold
In Mississippi, an election-watchdog group called Protect the Vote received about five reports that police in the city of Meridian were pulling people out of line to vote and arresting them on outstanding warrants, according to Derrick Johnson, the president of the state NAACP. Johnson, whose group is part of the coalition, said they had contacted police and asked them to stop.

But Tommy Miller, the assistant chief of police in the city of 38,000, said the reports were false. Miller said one officer had ticketed cars parked illegally near a school that was being used as a polling place. But Miller said the officer was then sent back to cancel the tickets, since police knew that parking was tight near the polls.

"We certainly are not pulling folks out of line," Miller said. "We have no idea where all this got started."